Verbal problem solving is difficult for students with language learning disorders and expressive language problems. Students with language disorders can have difficulty with formulating explanations or telling what to do. This is a set of 180 game

Life skills are those skills needed for independent living, and include a variety of daily living, job, and community living skills. Language is easily built through these routine tasks, where the vocabulary, sequence, and descriptions are

Bring awesome informational texts to your students with special needs and teach their vocabulary in speech therapy! This resource will help you teach U.S. Geography, including major landmarks, locations, and famous places. This targeted vocabulary

Prepare your students for community-based social language skills. Teach them to think about situations and find the right thing to do or say. This is a set of 96 game or task cards for verbal problem solving; an important life and language skill

Do your students have difficulty knowing the right thing to say? Do they have trouble connecting what people are saying to their facial expressions and body language? Can they read the mis-match between one person’s speech and another’s expression?

Are you supporting students with language or executive function disorders who have a difficult time knowing what to do or say in problem situations? Daily living can give rise to all sorts of basic problem situations, and students need to know what

This is a combined set of game or task cards for verbal problem solving; an important life and language skill for individuals with developmental and language disorders.
This resource provides an opportunity to practice solving problems, discussing

Searching for writing activities to implement with your students?? While many students are reluctant writers, students with language and reading disorders often have an even harder time! These students are encouraged through success with genuine

If you need to support AAC users but have not had much training in AAC implementation, then this resource will provide you with up to a full year's worth of implementation materials and activities. This resource provides a variety of teaching

Rosa Parks is an icon of the desegregation movement, and this adapted biography makes informational text about her accessible to students who are in special education or speech-language therapy. Using picture assisted text, interactive informational

This activity pack for Martin Luther King Day for speech therapy is for students with special needs, those who need picture supported text, or who need pictures to communicate. This is a biography about Dr. King, with 2 levels of picture supported

Help students learn language through literature and discussion of stories. This is a file of adapted materials for differentiated learning/special education for the book "How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World"This is a fun book no matter where

Help meet the CCSS to introduce more informational text to special needs students with this Science text on rocks. Learn about rocks with interactive activities and books while having fun. This resource includes:An 18 page clinician written book

This adapted biography of Abraham Lincoln with picture supported text comes in 2 levels of picture support for differentiation within your group. Special education and speech therapy students can learn about Lincoln with easy to follow text,

Meet the CCSS requirement for informational text in Special Education with this clinician written 17 page book about bats with a lot of facts. This book can be used in general education elementary classes and special education middle school or

The solution for your hunt for adapted materials for biographies amd imformational texts is right here! This is a bundle of 2 adapted biographies; Abraham Lincoln and George Washington. The biographies are supplies with two different levels of

This is an adapted science resource about the water cycle meant for differentiated learning, speech-language therapy, and special education. This resource stresses the vocabulary used to describe the process and the cause-effect(s) and sequence(s)

In order to make Special Education more robust we adapt content from the curriculum to meet their unique needs. For students with limited communication skills, this might mean adapting content area materials to provide symbol support for reading or

This is an abbreviated biography of Chief Justice Thurgood Marshall to be used for History or Black History Month or biography reading. Picture supported text provided by Picture It software from Suncastle Technology (licensing fee

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TEACHING EXPERIENCE

I have been a speech-language pathologist for 40 years, before which I worked with kids with autism. I have been in the classroom, therapy room, and worked as an administrator. I have worked in public and nonpublic schools. I currently specialize in alternative-augmentative communication for nonverbal students and in training staff to implement aac in their classrooms. I teach workshops locally and nationally on augmentative communication and on teaching literacy skills to students with complex communication needs, and have written CEU on-line courses for SLPs about AAC. I have published research articles in peer reviewed journals, and spent considerable time working on translating research into practice.

MY TEACHING STYLE

Working with students with significant special needs has taught me to do whatever works - which can be different for every student in the group. While I have a strong background in applied behavior analysis from working with kids with autism, I utilize a wide variety of strategies and styles! I want to teach teachers and SLPs to consider all options for teaching students with Complex Communication Needs because we need to presume competence for ALL kids. I feel strongly that if a child doesn't learn HE has not failed. WE have.

HONORS/AWARDS/SHINING TEACHER MOMENT

I have had research papers published in peer review professional journals, and have presented at numerous national and international conferences and on webinars. I have also written more than 16 professional CEU hour courses for an on-line university program for SLPs about AAC. And have recently written a book about AAC implementation for parents, teachers, and SLPs.
My blog has been named one of the top 5 AAC blogs, one of the top100 Language blogs and top 100 speech therapy blogs.

MY OWN EDUCATIONAL HISTORY

I have a B.A. in Psychology, M.S. in Speech-Language Pathology, M. Ed. in School Administration, and extensive graduate level classes in Special Education (enough for a whole other Master's degree - but why?). I believe this varied background has given me a deeper understanding of what these kids - and their teachers - need.

ADDITIONAL BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

I have 2 (grown) children, 1 husband, and 2 cats. I spend as much spare time as I can in my art studio, creating unique jewelry and mixed media assemblage art dolls, or just stealing time for a quick sketch.